One of the biggest joys of parenting is when your child sets a goal and achieves that goal! All on their own!
That Ah Ha moment for them when they realize all the preparation and practice they put forth paid off!
I'm a very proud momma right now!!!
My oldest son has been lifting light hand weights at night doing curls and doing push ups and sit ups before bed. He has gotten stronger and has seen the improvements in his throws and pitching. He was the closing pitcher for one of his games this weekend and they won.
My middle child just decided a little over a month ago he wanted to tryout for a AA travel hockey team for next year, which at his age 9 is the highest level of competition. He hadn't been on the ice for a month because he was playing Lacrosse. I was able to get him some lessons at his request to get some help and ice time and he was in the garage every night and morning practicing stick handling drills, watching you tube videos on how to get better at hockey and taking in all he could.
He talked about it and prayed about it. He was determined to make it. The night before tryouts he came to me at 8:00 and told me to tuck him in. The MN wild were playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs his favorite team and player Zach Parise and he went to bed without watching.
He and I went to tryouts which is something new to us. He has done baseball tryouts but not hockey. It was the organization he played mites for at 5 but now going to be 9. He was nervous and remembered a few of the kids. I said just go out there, have fun, pretend it's a practice and do your best and do what you know...
I watched from the stands as nervous as a mom could be. I was sweating and I wasn't out there skating!
He did great. He ended up getting the call he was anxiously waiting for....
He is now a. Jr. Hurricane Squirt AA Minor teammate.
He came home and while he was shooting around said "mom, all that practicing paid off".
"Yes son, it did!". "We are very proud of you."
He was grinning from ear to ear and was on cloud 9. We snuggled together and watched the playoffs as he drifted off with a grin still on his sweet face.
It was his decision to do this and tryout and who am I to say no to a kids dream because it's gonna be hard on me. I'll figure it out...
I will always support my kids in what they want to do and help them achieve it but they have to do it on their own merits.
If they succeed that's wonderful and if they don't you pick them back up and be there for them as to whatever reaction you get, its a life lesson learned. Unfortunately, these life lessons happen a lot earlier these days then when I was involved in sports.
Unfortunately, Cooper experienced one of those cuts and didn't make a team at one point and after that experience he doesn't want to feel that again...
Kids are resilient. It just may make them work harder...
